Amid the murky mid-January cold outside, Manchester Academy came alive as Stick To Your Guns, Static Dress, and Paleface Swiss delivered a full night of riffs, chaos and crowd‑surfing energy. Three bands, three very different flavours of heavy, all landing perfectly within a packed room. Check out galleries from photographer Kaine below!
Stick To Your Guns
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Stick To Your Guns hit the stage like a band with nothing to prove but every intention of proving it anyway. For a group that’s been flying the hardcore flag for years, there was something genuinely heart‑warming about seeing them tear through a set packed with classic STYG staples that shaped so many people’s teenage years, including my own. By the time ‘What Choice Did You Give Us?’ kicked in, the crowd was already a conveyor belt of crowd surfers sailing toward the barrier. Their hardcore/metalcore fusion still lands with the same punch it always has, and the singalongs for ‘Amber’ and ‘Nobody’ were loud enough to rattle the Academy’s ceiling. Jesse Barnett’s comment about Paleface Swiss “bringing this band back from the dead” felt sincere, and judging by the younger faces screaming every word, he wasn’t wrong. The whole set was short and snappy, over almost as soon as it began, but it did exactly what an opener should: warm the room, fire up the adrenaline, and remind everyone why they remain such a beloved force in the scene.
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Static Dress
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If the noise before Static Dress even walked onstage was anything to go by, Manchester was more than ready for them. The moment the lights dropped, the Academy filled with wild, anticipatory screaming, the kind of reaction they’ve always received since exploding onto the scene back in 2019. Hailing only from up the M62 in Leeds, this felt like a home‑turf victory lap, and the crowd responded instantly, matching the band’s energy with nonstop movement and even more crowdsurfing. Their setlist jumped between fan favourites like ‘clean’. and deeper cuts, while also giving space to brand‑new material, including ‘human props’, released on this very day and debuted on this tour. The audience didn’t miss a beat, waving in unison when prompted and roaring back every chorus, a strong reminder of why Static Dress remain one of the UK’s most consistently exciting live bands.
Paleface Swiss
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Paleface Swiss returned to Manchester like a band stepping into a city that already feels like home. After a few years of steadily growing crowds in the city which introduced them to the UK live circuit, headlining the Academy’s main room felt like a natural next step, and they made sure to justify it. Their entrance, accompanied by unnerving flashing lights and audio samples you’d expect in a horror movie, straight into ‘I Am a Cursed One’, sets the tone for a set that swung between brutality and bleak beauty. The early run of ‘Nail to the Tooth’, ‘Best Before: Death’ and ‘The Orphan’ had bodies flying over the barrier at a relentless pace, before the room collectively exhaled for the emotional weight of ‘Everything Is Fine’, introduced by Zelli as a song that “means so much.” That breather didn’t last long; ‘The Rats’ detonated the floor again, earning a huge reaction from the longtime faithful. Moments like ‘River of Sorrows’ showed just how far the band’s songwriting has evolved throughout and since the Cursed cycle, but the bulk of the night was a merciless, heavy onslaught that reminded everyone why Paleface Swiss shows are spoken about with a kind of reverence. They closed with ‘Please End Me’, finishing the night by unleashing a near‑minute breakdown that sent the crowd home buzzing, bruised, and already highly anticipating the Swiss juggernaut’s return.
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